MAYNARD JAMES KEENAN: Extinction-Level Event Will Set Us Straight

According to The Pulse Of Radio, TOOL and PUSCIFER frontman Maynard James Keenan was asked in a new interview with AZCentral.com if he thinks aspects of online culture such as tweeting and trolling have contributed to a drop in intelligence and what could be done about it. He replied: "What I think would help is some borderline extinction-level event. I think that would kind of set everything pretty straight... something gorgeous. A meteor, a few tidal waves, maybe a rapid Ice Age, something to kind of make you worry more about food, clothing and shelter, rather than tweeting."

Keenan explained why online culture has become so toxic, saying: "I think maybe just that entitlement, the ability to immediately express an unfounded opinion that's not based on any kind of data or fact or research. It's just your opinion. I can see how that can be kind of unnerving. It's like the darkest version of Yelp. It's unfortunate."

Asked if he feels as though the collective intelligence of society has been consistently dropping, he replied: "I don't know if you've seen that documentary? It's a pretty intense documentary called Idiocracy, which used to be a comedy and now it's a documentary . . . I don't know what's happening out there. What's gonna happen next? Is it zombies? I'm ready for anything now."

Keenan famously hoped that California would break off the west coast of the United States and fall into the sea in the TOOL song "Aenema", so epic catastrophes used to reset things are not a foreign concept to him.

Keenan and PUSCIFER are currently on a lengthy North American tour in support of their third album, "Money Shot". The trek stops in Phoenix on Friday night (March 18).

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